News and Feature Posts – There’s Room for Both in a Business Blog

The Ivy Tech Community College textbook by the name of “Breaking Through College Reading” has some interesting things to say about how, in newspapers, news stories are treated differently from feature stories.

Like newspapers, business blogs can contain “news story” posts and “feature story” posts, and I thought the explanation given in the text could be useful for freelance blog content writers.

“Feature stories differ from news stories in their timeliness, style, and length,” textbook authors Brenda Smith and LeeAnn Morris explain. Whereas news stories cover breaking, time-sensitive matters, feature articles would have similar impact if you read them days or weeks later, Smith and Morris add.

Unlike the inverted pyramid style of news stories, (with facts presented in decreasing order of importance), the style of features is characterized by a beginning, middle, and end.

When it comes to blogging for business, not everyone likes the inverted pyramid concept, even when it comes to newsy blogs. Ginny Soskey of Hubspot quotes studies showing that participants who actively read content online read (or at least scan) 60-77% of a story.  “There should be valuable information presented again and again through the entire article, all the way to the call to action at the bottom,” Soskey asserts.

The point I think it’s important to stress to business owners, practitioners, or to freelance blog content writers is that varying the type of content in a business blog is a good idea. Readers need to know about any new products or services they can now obtain through you, about any new partners or employees, and about your recent activities in the community. You can also bring news about recent developments in your industry or profession.

Other (in fact most) of your blog posts, will be in the line of “feature stories”, offering helpful hints about ways to use products, questions consumers should ask, and your opinions on the best way to approach customer needs. Business blog posts need to include stories about how you solved client problems, and what lessons you’ve learned through your experiences, wisdom you’ll be applying in your dealings with them should they choose to become your customers. These feature stories are generally non-time-sensitive.

News and feature stories – there’s plenty of room for both in a business blog!